I realised watching that game that literally none of their issues over the last couple years have been fixed and in many cases have gotten worse, and suddenly I just didn’t really care anymore.

I don’t know what exactly these coaches are trying to do with the backline but they seem to have completely sponged the life out of them. Even under Foster they still had flare and scored awesome tries, but now they’re pretty much unwatchable. When you think about how talented most of our backs are, this is just unforgivable.

When I watch the Wallabies attack I honestly feel jealous. They gel so well together. Their wings are incredible. Imagine being envious of another team’s wings as a Kiwi. I mean fuck.

Jason Ryan continues to do a great job with the pack, but I no longer have faith in any of the rest of the coaches. If Razor doesn’t start firing assistants, then NZR ought to fire him.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen an All Blacks squad with this level of uncertainty across so many facets. The playing roster appears unsettled, with minimal certainty in key positions. Scott Robertson has adopted a conservative approach with his selections IMO, possibly out of genuine concern for his position if this Rugby Championship doesn’t yield positive results.

Front Row

The front row seems the most solid, boasting genuine depth. Fletcher Newell and Ethan de Groot have both performed well thus far, and Tamaiti Williams looked promising off the bench in his return from injury. Cody Taylor played commendably in his 100th Test, being one of the standout performers in the first half on Saturday. Samisoni Taukei’aho has seized every opportunity presented to him and appears to be an excellent rotational option behind Cody.

Locks

I’m not overly concerned about the lock position. Fabian Holland has impressed since his debut, offering a solid lineout option and decent ball-carrying abilities. He reminds me of a young Brodie Retallick. Scott Barrett has been inconsistent but remains the captain and a fixture in the starting XV due to that role. Having Patrick Tuipulotu available from the bench is a luxury, as he can cover either lock position. Tupou Vaa’i starting in the back row also provides additional cover and depth.

Positions 1–5 seem relatively settled, with good depth and coverage.

Back Row

This is where things become more uncertain. Ardie Savea is an unquestionable starter in the back row, and his versatility to play at 6, 7, or 8 should theoretically simplify selections. However, I wonder if the depth in the back row has become a hindrance. We lack a clear identity in this area. Having Tupou Vaa’i play at 6 has been an intriguing decision and one that has yielded positive results so far, though I do question his speed for the flanker position.

I wasn’t overly impressed with Simon Parker’s debut. While he made a solid number of tackles, he didn’t pose a significant line-breaking threat. Wallace Sititi appeared to be a more dangerous running option when he came on and would be my preference to start at 8.

Halfback

At halfback, we have a clear starter with a healthy Cam Roigard. Beyond him, the next best option is debatable. Cortez Ratima hasn’t performed poorly but is still a work in progress. I rate Finlay Christie highly as a quality Super Rugby halfback, but it’s evident he is currently a third-string international 9. This is a position where I would start integrating younger players for the next World Cup cycle.

While discussing the 9 and 10 positions, I want to highlight the try by Gonzalo García that put Argentina ahead 26–13. This originated from a scrum in the All Blacks’ own 22-meter line. As soon as I saw the scrum set and Pablo Matera packing down at 8, it was clear the play would involve him coming off the back and targeting one of our smaller defenders, Damian McKenzie. Tupou Vaa’i was too slow off the side, leaving McKenzie and Christie scrambling to stop one of the Pumas’ bigger players with momentum. Our flankers then overcommitted late, leading to an easy try from quick play by Argentina. I thought this could’ve been defended smarter for sure.

First five

Beauden Barrett has played well and remains an offensive threat; however, his goal-kicking is too inconsistent for an international kicker. Defensively, he has been solid. McKenzie is a better goal-kicking option but can be targeted defensively, making the decision challenging. Having one of them on the bench makes sense, given their ability to cover both 10 and 15.

Centres

The centre positions remain unsettled, and we are likely further from finding a consistent combination. I don’t believe Billy Proctor is the answer at the international level. I’d love to see Timoci Tavatavanawai get a run at 12 with Jordie Barrett at 13. I think that’s a dangerous combination and offers better backdoor options.

Back Three

I’m seriously concerned about how our back three will perform against South Africa, given their use of the kicking game. Caleb Clarke’s return will bolster depth here. Will Jordan isn’t convincing under high balls but is currently our best option at 15. I wouldn’t be willing to throw Reuben Love into the mix just yet; however, a strong end-of-year tour would go a long way for him.

Coaching Records

Scott Robertson’s win percentage currently stands at 73.9% over 17 matches, with 13 wins and 4 losses.

In comparison, Ian Foster’s win percentage during his tenure as All Blacks head coach was 69.6%, with 32 wins and 12 losses over 46 Tests.

A loss to South Africa at Eden Park would drop Scott Robertson’s win percentage to 70%, as well as marking the unwanted achievement of losing to Argentina for the first time on New Zealand soil and losing to Argentina for the first time in Argentina. While this may also indicate Argentina’s improvement, it’s not a record any coach would desire.

It’s going to be an interesting Rugby Championship campaign this year!!!

Questions that should be asked:

• Is Scott Barrett the best Captain of the team? I don't know if replacing him as Captain is the answer but this feels like a Foster>Cane or Reuben Thorne/Taine Randall/Anton Oliver captaincy...no inspiration, not even the best player in his position in the team

• Why are we so adamant to not give the youngsters a go? Corey Toole just lit up the Springboks on debut. What are the ABs afraid of? IMO Sevu Reece was the worst All Black in 2024 and he's on track to be amongst the bottom again in 2025. Reiko the same.

• There is some leftover DNA from Ian Foster and we are clearly not over that. Game 2 vs Argentina was like watching an Ian Foster performance. We need to rip that out of our system and that also means ripping those players out of the system. Out the rot.

• Furthermore, it does feel the coaching is stuck in Super Rugby mindset. This is international footy. Be ruthless.

• I like Jordie Barrett a lot but I wonder if he'd be more effective off the bench with Tavatavanawai at 12. Try it. Why not? Jordie is exceptionally skillful but he's not a line breaking 12. ABs IMO have the 7th best ranked Centre pairing in the world. SA, AUS, IRE, ITA, ARG, SCO all above NZ. That's poor.

• Give Love a go at 10. Beaudy is great but if he makes it to the RWC he might be using a walking cane. Love brings speed speed speed.

• Game 2 vs Argentina why didn't Preston get a bench spot? He's there in case you suffer an injury and you need him vs the Springboks and you don't get him any minutes with only that one game to the next series?! This is what I mean by not being brave. Hell, have Christie and Preston as your 1 and 2 in Game 2 for more game time...but no. Selections and the strategy around those selections stink.

So many frustrating questions.

I get Jordie is an incredible 12 but to me, this seems like an obvious option we should at least be experimenting with?

Jordie is 6’5 and by far our best player in the air, while also having a gigantic boot he can make more use of at full back. He also played a bit of 15 in Ireland so has some recent experience.

Meanwhile, will Jordan is a try scoring machine and makes an impact no matter which position he’s playing, so why not move him to one of the wing positions where we have lacked a bit of firepower as of late?

That’d then free up a spot for a big crash ball runner at 12 I.e. tavatava or tupaea.

I doubt this will happen but have always wondered when teams purposely target the high ball against us, why we never seem to use our best player under the high ball to counter it.

Since he’s been at the helm, of the forwards, we’ve seen them become our only real threat. He’s built depth and structure, that’s made them a top tier forward pack. We have some really exciting, young blokes to look forward to watching for the next few years. Holland and Newell have really stood head & shoulders above an otherwise lacklustre team. Fair play to the guy, he’s doing a great job.

1. Be speedster on open space- Non-negotiable*
2. Last line of defense or almost last line - Non-negotiable*
3. Catch the high ball - Non-negotiable*
4. Can kick(optional).

This is not to discredit PUMAS success, they outplayed us fair and square they are genuinely top contender and we have to look at them as equal there is no if and buts.

Will Jordan had an off game here with the high ball, but it's because our wingers weren't contesting so somebody has to every single time

This is not a dig on Sevu Reece and Reiko they can only play what they get selected to do (regardless of merit) and get paid.

So we have to look at the coaches, why are they not choosing wingers based on these non-negotiable skills set. Literally rugby 101.

AUS and ARG wingers are insane best in the world insane. I am in awe looking at their wingers

Edited: spelling mistakes

Im not talking about the Carlos Spencer, Damien MacKenzie type X factor, i'm talking about your run of the mill type X factor. The type that has you thinking a player could potentially break the line or put another player through a hole at any moment.

How do we only have one bloke in the backline that inspires that feeling??!!

Are we coaching it out of them at club/1XV level?? Are we trying to bring the structues of test or super rugby into lower levels too early? We've seen numerous players lose their edge when they get into the elite levels, as they get forced into the structures of professional footy and fail to find a comfortble medium between their natural instincts and the systems and structures.of the professional enviroment. Has this penetrated down too far?

We've had a production line of backs for as long as i can remember. It seems too easy to just put our current shortage of TOP quality backs to bad luck/timing. There has to be more to it.

What the actual fuck was that.

Full credit to Argentina that was high tempo and electric - the way we actually used to beat teams.

How the fuck are we as a top 3 international side conceding on average I would guess 1 yellow card every 2 games. We are almost at the point now where we are getting one card every single game. 3 yellows in one game is legitimately unacceptable for this side. Every other top international has sorted their discipline out for the most part yet we have had this streak for probably 2 years now where we cop a yellow nearly every single game - how are we the only top side with discipline this bad.

Tactically I thought this game was genuinely embarrassing. We spent the entirety of last week manhandling Argentina at the rolling maul - we for some reason proceed to not go back to utilizing it this week until late in the 2nd half. First rolling maul results in a penalty, the second we score off the back of it. How to you have a virtually surefire way to score/earn penalties that we absolutely milked last week and had no answer - and proceeded to not return to using that this week.

I genuinely cannot understand what the fuck goes through this teams brains sometimes. The blueprint was made last week and had zero answer. We proceed to completely change it up this week to something that doesn't work and wind up looking completely out of answers to thr Argentina defence

Bautista Delguy - 76m

Mateo Carreras - 80m

Simply outstanding for the Argentine wingers and truly shocking from the ABs. Our back line selections are stale an uninspired. Now headed into two matches against the Boks we either have to mix things up at the 11th hour and throw a bunch of guys with no game time off the deep end or stick to the same formula that seems to somehow be getting progressively worse over the season.

If you want to look at this yourself: the incident/s in question start from 32.25
I've watched the clip like over and over and it looks like a knock on in the tackle, not a sinical and or deliberate knock on. he basically had the ball thrown into him? he started from miles on side too so i can't see a problem with that. The other argument you could make was a potential neck roll when the try was scored but even then his forearm was more across the shoulder and chest and not leveraging the neck at all.

Or was there another incident? the commentary, replays and in game audio gave 0 indication as to why or what had happened he was just sent off.

I don't like dissecting games and I'll generally just accept it for what it is but for the sake of understanding what it was for I think it's worth the conversation.

This is how we beat the bok.

Back 3 Caleb tangitau Love -fb Narawa

12- Timoci 13- Jordie

we use the forwards like in game 1 Argentina .have McKenzie on 80min to kick penalties

Use the set play against the BOk (this is our new identity ) We have better forwards (fitter) This is our new identity . Use the set play against bok. Let the overlaps happen

Bench - will Jordan and beuden.

If it was to happen is it worse to lose Eden park’s record to the humble Safas or the ever respectful Ozzies?

Discipline killed us. High ball killed us.. But the argies exploited it beautifully so full credit to them..

Mad to think we win that if BB could kick 😩

Argentina just exposed a massive hole and the boks are gonna absolutely rinse us there.

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxFMhFyh9KeSH1bf59gL2nG8aipeZ0hpvj?si=Zc_RiawHxbiVPbzY

1. Tamaiti Williams Looked good coming on and is an immense loosehead. De Groot has raised his stocks from last year but Williams is just that cut above.

2. Codie Taylor By far our best lineout operator, he provides valuable experience and nails all his core roles

3. Fletcher Newell Just edges out Lomax for me, he's really stepped up this year and he's a massive scrummager and that try was really impressive.

4. Scott Barrett (C) For better or worse, our captain and he's a decent lock too. With Tuipulotu out, there's not really anyone better but that's alright he's a solid operator.

5. Fabian Holland He's been a consistent performer since he made his debut just last month. Looking short odds to be the breakthrough player of the year. Wonderful at lineout time and a tireless tackler.

6. Tupou Vaa'i Today wasn't his best performance to say the least but it's good to see such a dynamic player be included in the starting XV. His height, speed and physicality make him a promising blindside.

7. Ardie Savea A generational player and arguably right up there for one of our best opensides of all time. He's an explosive runner and a great commander of the forward pack. One of the first on the team sheet.

8. Wallace Sititi Was great last year and looked good for his few minutes he got today. He's a great runner from the base of the scrum and nails all the other essentials

9. Cam Roigard Hopefully he'll be available, if so he's a massive upgrade from Ratima/Christie with a good box kicking game and a good nose for the possibility of a cheek sniping run.

10. Beauden Barrett He was good defensively today but he didn't marshall the backline well. Still he's vastly experienced and I think that today was more of an aberration from him.

11. Leroy Carter Someone who didn't just have a bad day at the office is Rieko Ioane. He's been consistently underperfroming either at 11 or 13. Carter isn't great under the high ball sure but he's a lot more of a potent threat with some genuine wheels which is desperately needed.

12. Jordie Barrett At some point we're going to want to rest the man having not really had a break since the summer of 23/24 with him going to play for Leinster in the off season. The Boks may not be the best time to rest him though. He's our best 12 and is good on both sides of the ball. We should use his big boot more in our clearance kicks.

13. Billy Proctor: Not thrilled about this but really who else do we have? Lienert-Brown is a known penalty magnet , Fainga'unuku remains unavailable for selection and Ioane has been rubbish for a long time now. hopefully he can lean on his experience playing alongside Jordie and continue to improve hi defensive reads.

14. Will Jordan Jordan had an uncharacteristically poor game today. However he is a class player and is equally adept at both right-wing and full back. Having him at 14 fixes one half our our wing problem and allow McKenzie to make the 1st XV.

15. Damian McKenzie McKenzie offers being another playmaker option with Barrett. He'd be an improvement under the high ball and offers better goalkicking accuracy than Barrett.

16. Samisoni Taukei'aho Not happy about the lineout at the end but he's a hard runner, a good scrummagers and excellent at scoring from the rolling maul.

17. Ethan De Groot. Tough as nails and a more than handy loosehead replacement

18. Pasilio Tosi Although at 140 kgs, he's already fully grown, he's also grown metaphorically with the All Blacks and is a great scrummager and a big body to come on at the death and hurt some Springboks.

19. Peter Lakai With three locks in the starting XV, I think we'd be fine using a 5-3 bench split to put on two loose forwards to close out the game with impact. Lakai is a good ball runner who can replicate Savea when he come on for him.

20. Simon Parker Had a great debut today and can cover both 6 and 8. He's nice an tall making him a good 2nd half lineout option and he can be that enforcer archetype that smacks bodies in dominant tackles and has a high workrate.

21. Noah Hotham Again, I'm assuming he will be fit and available for selection. Hotham looks to be teh 2nd best halfback available. He's quick and can control the game well through box kicking.

22. Timoci Tavatanawai The difference is a tremendously explosive ball runner and hasn't really been given enough time in the black jersey. His turnover game is a really handy asset . He can also cover the wings in a pinch

23. Emoni Narawa This spot could have just as easily gone to Love or Reece but I like Narawa here. He's good on both sides of the ball and plays intelligent footy. Like Tavatanawai, he's versatile which makes him a handy asset off the bench.

What are your thoughts and who is in your team?

Anybody had a worse fantasy lineup than me this week? - Vaa’i - yellow card - Ratima - off injured early - Albornoz - off injured early - Sua’ali’i - injured - Jordan - yellow card - Wright - off injured early

It was absolutely abysmal. I had to reset the AB’s stream at least 8 or so times. Anyone else? I don’t know how they can justify the price tag for how shithouse the service is.

https://youtu.be/mm2vYzy0GM0?feature=shared

It’s not the players fault. They’re all top tier guys (as you’d expect from ANY test team).

The current culture of the allblacks is that of a corporate office block.

The players are scared and inhibited to act silly and be themselves. Everyone acts proper .

There’s no footy being played. There’s no mongrel.

It’s come down to if the coaches talk to me nicely .

Can someone explain Cody’s white boots and is it the rising sun he has on the in today’s game? Thanks!